


Some Things He'll Never Forget

by simplyn2deep



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Community: h50_holidayswap, Gen, M/M, h50_holidayswap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-17
Updated: 2011-12-17
Packaged: 2017-10-27 11:20:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/295268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/simplyn2deep/pseuds/simplyn2deep
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny does a bit of reflecting on his life</p>
            </blockquote>





	Some Things He'll Never Forget

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kitmerlot1213](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitmerlot1213/gifts).



> Written for h50_holidayswap
> 
> Thanks to eumelia and karraparis for the wonderful beta job

  


\------

There are some things Danny Williams knows he’ll never forget. The first time he held Grace. She was just minutes old and hadn’t been cleaned up yet, but her eyes, oh how they sparkled. Or the first time Grace said Da, daddy and finally Danno. He’ll never forget how he felt when Rachel told him she wanted a divorce and the subsequent six months he spent in that run down motel with Matt getting shitfaced drunk.

 _“Daniel, this isn’t working out.” Rachel said, “I can’t…I don’t know how to be a cop’s wife.” She paused, “I thought I could handle it, but after the second police officer funeral…I don’t have that kind of strength”_

Danny wasn’t a total fool. Rachel’s lack of “strength” aside, he knew that there was something else…someone else. So he wasn’t completely surprised that within three months of the divorce being finalize, he’d heard from mutual friends that Rachel was serious with some rich guy from New York.

 _‘Well isn’t that a kick in the ass’_ Danny thought. It was five months later when he heard, from his precious daughter, that her mommy was getting married and she was going to have her very own room in a house in Hawaii.

Naturally, wherever Grace went, Danny would go as well. He packed what was left of his life and moved to a shithole apartment in _Paradise_.

\------

No matter how many times he’s shot at, beat up or insulted, he’ll never forget that Steve McGarrett is in his life for a reason. Perhaps it’s to make him realize that for all he has his work and Grace; he really isn’t alone on the island. Perhaps, Steve is in his life to make it feel more complete.

 _Most nights he’d spend a couple of hours on Steve’s lanai unwinding with a beer or two. They’d talk about Grace’s latest adventures during school (“Maybe I should have a talk with that Tommy kid…where does he even come up with those ideas?!” Steve laughed), they’d talk about some of the tamer not so classified-classified operations that Steve was a part of._

 _They’d then lapse into a comfortable silence. The waves crashing on the shore was the only sound between them. The only light cast around them was from a few tiki torches that Steve lit when they first got in._

 _Somewhere between Steve’s second beer and Danny’s third, Danny decided that he had too much to drink and he should head home._

 _He moved to stand from the low seated beach chair when Steve reached his hand out and placed it on Danny’s arm. Danny waited to see if he was going to say anything and after a few seconds he spoke, “I should probably head home…”_

 _Steve turned his head and looked up. Danny couldn’t describe the particular face Steve had on display. It was a mixture of ‘I might be a bit tipsy and don’t think I’ll be able to make it upstairs’ which couldn’t be the case as he’s only had two beers and as a sailor, can definitely hold his alcohol, and his scared shitless face he gets when someone mentions his parents, especially his mother, which also couldn’t be the case because they’d hadn’t even broached the topic of parents._

 _“Just…stay…” Steve finally said._

 _And there. That face. Danny recognized the face that Steve now had. It was his ‘I’m so amazed by how awesome you are” but that face was usually reserved for something fancy Chin did with the computer. So why was he using it now?_

 _Danny nodded his head, “Okay.” And he relaxed once more into the chair, with Steve’s hand still on his arm._

\------

There are some things Danny wishes he could forget. Matt. His baby brother. He wanted to forget that he ever royally screwed up and left the family broken. He wanted to forget his arrival to that pineapple infested hellhole, the gifts he lavished on Grace and the dinner they all had at the hotel. He wanted to forget Matt saying to shoot him or let him go…and how that led him to be with Rachel.

 _It was the understatement of the year to say that Danny going back to Rachel was a horribly stupid thing to do, but he honestly couldn’t think who else to turn to after letting his brother escape. He couldn’t go to Steve because he lied to the Feds and Danny thought that Steve expected him to be able to talk his brother down and handle it like “big brothers” are supposed to. Rachel had known Matt. Known what he was like before all this. She could maybe help him make sense of all of this._

 _What he didn’t expect to happen was to fall for her again. No, not love. It was lust. But no matter how much he told himself that it was lust and not love, part of his heart said ‘no, it’s love’._

 _He gave into it. To forget about Matt and how he screwed up there, he gave into the lust._

\------

There were the few blissful months that he and Rachel had together in an attempt to reconcile. Yes, he’d like to forget that as well. He’d like to forget that he let Rachel take his baby girl five thousand miles away from him again. He’d like to forget the harsh words she spat at him over the phone when he “chose work over family, yet again, Daniel”. He’d like to forget that the baby she’s carrying isn’t his.

Danny will never forget the day that one emotionally repressed ninja SEAL admitted his feeling, while sober no less. He remembers the conversation like it happened yesterday, when in fact it happened nearly six months earlier.

He and Steve had been dancing, rather complicatedly, around their feeling for each other for almost their entire partnership. They continued this dance through three relationships but it was the insight of a beautiful and smart ten year old girl that sealed the deal, as it were.

 _Danny doesn’t know how Steve was able to look past what amounted to rejection, but Steve assured him it didn’t matter. Steve did worry about not being able to compete with Rachel, though._

 _“It’s not a competition.” Danny said, “Whatever would have become of Rachel and I being back together wouldn’t change one thing between u.”_

 _“I know it’s not a competition.” Steve said with a sigh, “It just would have been different.” He gave a wave of his hand, something he clearly picked up from spending a lot of time with Danny._

 _****_

 _Of course, leave it to Danny’s beautiful and brilliant daughter to see through all the dancing and call them on it._

 _“Danno, have you and Uncle Steve ever gone out on a date?” Grace asked one afternoon, “Like Mommy and Step-Stan sometimes go on lunch or dinner dates with each other.”_

 _“Well,” Danny began, “Uncle Steve and I have done things like a lot of friends do.”_

 _Grace sighed, “That’s not what I mean, Danno!” she looked at him, “Like people in relationships do.”_

 _Danny was a bit nonplussed, “And what do you know about people in relationships?” he asked_

 _“Well, my friend Liana’s sister goes out on dates all the time with her boyfriend.” Grace said, “Liana said they go to the movies, or to the beach to surf and sometimes he takes her out to dinner.”_

 _“Oh I see…” Danny said with a nod of his head, “And you think I should do that with Uncle Steve?”_

 _Grace nodded her head. “I think people who love each other and spend a lot of time together, like you and Uncle Steve, should go out on dates and have fun together.”_

 _“Well, I’ll have to talk with Uncle Steve about it…”_

 _“Oh I already did!” Grace exclaimed, “He said that he wanted to take you on a date, but he didn’t know if you’d want to. I said that you would because you love him and would do anything with him.”_

 _Danny gave an exasperated laugh, “Yeah, that about sums it up Monkey.”_

\------

Danny remembers when Steve asked him out for the first time. Complete with Steve stumbling through asking him out – five days in advance and barring a big case that kept it from happening.

To say that Danny was surprised was an understatement. He thought they’d just fall into a relationship. That it would be something that was “bound to happen”. But Steve McGarrett had surprised him.

 _“So…I umm…” Steve began, “You don’t have Grace this weekend, right?”_

 _Danny raised an eyebrow, “Were you not paying attention when I said that Grace was going to a sleepover and I’d have her next weekend?”_

 _“Oh, yeah…that’s right.” Danny could see Steve’s face flush a bit, “Well, I was um…wondering that if you didn’t have anything to do…” he paused, looked at Danny, then sighed, “Oh don’t make me ask this…”_

 _Danny, for all his trying not to burst from laughter, couldn’t quite bring himself to put Steve out of his misery. “I honestly don’t know what you’re talking about.”_

 _“Would you like to go to dinner on Saturday night?” Steve asked in a single breath_

 _Danny was impressed. He knew Steve had excellent lung capacity, but didn’t believe Steve would be able to get a complete sentence out in one breath._

 _Apparently Danny was quiet for seconds too long. Steve was nervous, “If I’m wrong in thinking there was some…”_

 _Danny grabbed a hold of his shirt and pulled on it until Steve was inches away from his face and gently pressed his lips against Steve’s, “I’d love to go to dinner on Saturday.” He said once he released his grasp on Steve’s shirt and pulled away, “Your place?”_

 _Steve shook his head, “I’ll pick you up at seven.” He licked his lips, “Wear that blue dress shirt I like.” He smirked and turned his attention to Chin who motioned them to join him at the computer table._

\------

Today Danny adds a new item to his list of things he won’t forget.

Steve, who had his, later named ‘Oh shit, I’m meeting my boyfriend’s parents for the first time’ face on, came into his office earlier in the day. Thoughts were running though Danny’s head trying to figure out what would cause this sort of reaction in Steve. He was more freaked out than a Navy SEAL should have been. Danny would later think it’s cute, but would never say that to Steve’s face…or within ear shot of him.

 _“So…I just got a very interesting phone call…” Steve said as he slid into the chair in front of Danny’s desk_

 _“From the Governor?” Danny asked as he looked up from his computer._

 _Steve shook his head and opened and closed his mouth a few times before finally finding his voice to speak, “Your father called me…”_

 _Danny blinked slowly, “My…who did what?”_

 _“Your father, called me. On my cell phone.” Steve said, “And he said that they would be coming out next week for ten days. I guess he tried to call you but your phone kept going to voice mail”_

 _Danny pulled out his cell and noticed it was off. He turned it on and noticed the battery was dead; “Shit!” he plugged it into the docking station for it to charge_

 _“Now that we got that sorted out…parents coming next week?” Steve asked_

 _Danny nodded his head. “I told you about that a couple of days ago.”_

 _“Yeah, I know,” Steve said. “But correct me if I’m wrong…they still think you live in that shithole apartment…”_

 _It dawned on Danny what Steve was hinting at. “Oh…crap. They’re going to be staying with us.”_

 _Steve nodded his head. “They don’t exactly know there’s an ‘us’, do they?”_

 _Danny shook his head, “They aren’t going to have a problem with us living together,” he said. “Maybe a little problem, but not because you’re a guy.”_

 _“Okay…That’s great but we’ve been together for eight months and they don’t know there is an us.” Steve stated, “How’s that going to go over?”_

 _“About the same way it went over when I met Mary-Ann.” Danny said_

 _“Not the same!” Steve said, “You met my sister practically a year before we got together. And besides, these are your parents! I haven’t had to meet the parents of someone I was dating since high school.”_

 _Danny gave a sympathetic smile, “Don’t worry. They’ll like you.” Danny pulled Steve closer to him, “Ma will get one look at you and fall madly in love.” He pecked Steve’s lips, “You and Pops can bond over the hunk of metal in the garage” he wrapped his arms around Steve’s waist squeezing him tightly, Steve squeezed back, “I’ll pick Grace up from Rachel’s and when I get back to the house, we’ll sit down for dinner and it’ll be nice.”_

 _Steve smiled against Danny’s lips, “But there’s still a possibility they won’t like me.”_

 _“If that happens, and that’s a big if, why don’t we worry about it later, yeah?”_

 _Steve reluctantly nodded his head, “Yeah, guess that’s okay.”_

Danny knew that wasn’t going to be enough for his loveable, but nervous, boyfriend. When they finished their reports, Steve and Danny grabbed Thai from their favorite restaurant and took home a late lunch.

Around three that afternoon Danny wanted to make sure Steve knew his parents would be okay about who Danny was dating. He grabbed his phone from the coffee table, scrolled through the contact list until he found his parents number and pressed the green send button. He leaned against Steve as he got comfortable and waited for one of his parents to answer the phone.

There was a bit of small talk before Danny became relatively serious, “Ma, Pop...I got something to tell you about the man I’m dating…” there was another pause. Steve couldn’t hear what was being said, but if Danny’s expression was anything to go by, Steve was able to relax a bit, “His name’s Steve.” Danny laughed some, “Technically he is my boss, but it’s a partnership really, and there are no problems. It’s been going fine for eight months. There’s an awesome beach we live on. I’m not one for it, you know, but it’s our own little private piece of beach. Gracie loves him.”

This time Steve laughed as Danny continued to answer the questions his parents asked. After forty-five or so minutes, he was finally able to end the call with promises of a call next week before they arrived.

Once Danny ended the call, he tilted his head to the side and gave Steve a smile, “They can’t wait to meet you.” He leaned up and pressed a kiss to Steve’s lips, “I can’t wait for you to meet them.”

Steve smiled against Danny’s lips. “I can’t wait to meet them.”

\--FIN--


End file.
